Just got word back from Alan Hoover.
Indeed the included tone pot was bad, yet so was my volume pot. I started with a new 'military' grade pot, and in the middle of trying 'everything' I could think of I slapped on a cheap-o Taiwanese volume pot, and it turns out the pot I replaced the new one with just in case) was shorting out as well.. so between the volume pot and tone stack pot, BOTH shorting out when incremented just correctly, both were shorting out opposite of each other.. so when the volume was DOWN it was shorting and sending signal to the tone pot.. but when the volume was up, the tone pot was shorting signal to the volume pot..
Either way, he asked if he could charge me $25 .. this includes the new volume pot, the tone pot and shipping back.. plus getting it up and running to spec as he says it is now.
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One thing anyone should think of before trying this kind of multi wired,spaghetti type diagram, is 'ARE YOUR EYES GOING TO BE GOOD ENOUGH TO WORK AND SOLDER SUCH SMALL MINUTE PIECES'.. even with a magnifying glass fixed to a goose neck I wrestled with being able to see the whole way through this thing.. soldering some areas as small as the actual tip of the iron.. sounds like I 'almost' nailed it.. but almost never counted in setups.
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SOOO.. he'll mail it back on Monday, by Friday I should have a few other parts in for her as well, and then I will throw it all together..
Once everything is perfect and working I will search for a new, solid, LIGHT WEIGHT body to replace the lead weighted body it seems I just can't get rid of... it's a beautiful solid wood sunburst strat body, but weighs more than a Paul ...
Guitar fetish just got in some unfinished strat spec, solid, alder bodies that weigh in at around 4.5, for only 50 bucks (worse that happens is I throw it away) .. but they also have some solid Paulina wood (which I have never heard of before) that weigh in at just over 2 lbs..
Anyone ever screw with Paulina (don't even know if I am spelling it correctly, but I believe it is how it is pronounced) wood?